Apple Strangely Approves Free MAME Emulator – Download While You Can

Gridlee comes to iOS devices through the MAME4iOS emulation wrapper

David Valdeita Loureiro has released Gridlee for iPhone and iPad. At first glance it delivers an old 8-bit game that actually never saw the light of day. But there’s more to the app than meets the eye.

Those who’ve downloaded the app from iTunes have discovered that Gridlee is actually based on the MAME4iOS specification, which makes it a full-fledged emulator for various games.

All the player has to do is feed the Gridlee application file some ROMs (games) and once the app goes onto an iPhone / iPad, it starts up with the respective games.

Apple doesn’t condone such applications, yet its App Store Review team somehow let this one slip through the net.

Since it’s Sunday, it might be around for a few hours still. However, there’s a good chance the Cupertino giant will pull the plug on this one first thing Monday morning, so hurry up and grab it if you think it’ll make your day.

The app is reportedly available thanks to the generosity of the three co-founders of Videa (Howard Delman, Ed Rotberg, and Roger Hector), who provided the original ROM images from the only existing Gridlee machine.

Developer David Valdeita Loureiro explains that “The hardware that Gridlee ran on evolved into the Bally/Sente SAC I system, which provided a cartridge-based arcade gaming platform that supported such games as Snake Pit, Stocker, and Hat Trick.”

In other words, those are just a few of the games you can feed Gridlee and play on your iDevice.

The developer also carefully notes that “Gridlee is not officially endorsed by Nicola Salmoria or the MAME Team. Gridlee is based on the MAME4iOS Reloaded Project by Seleuco.”

The exact emulation spec is MAME 0.139u1, according to the app’s description.